Left-Unity celebrates JNU win second year in a row

After the Left-Unity alliance made a clean sweep in the Jawaharlal University Students' Union (JNUSU) polls on Saturday, the winning candidates spent their Sunday celebrating the win. Despite a close fight with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and the Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students' Association (BAPSA), the Left-Unity won the seats with a big margin.

Geeta Kumari and Simone Zoya Khan of the All India Students' Association (AISA) were elected as the President and the Vice-President, respectively. Duggirala Srikrishna of the Students' Federation of India (SFI) bagged the Secretary's post and Shubanshu Singh of the Democratic Students' Federation (DSF) was elected as the Joint Secretary.

Geeta secured 1,506 of the total 4,620 votes polled, defeating ABVP's Nidhi Tripathi. Khan got 1,876 votes, defeating ABVP's Durgesh Kumar. Srikrishna received 2,082 votes, defeating his ABVP competitor, Nikunj Makwana.

The AISA-SFI alliance had won the polls last year as well. "Students have once again trusted the Left to fight for their rights. Students know what is the need of the hour and I am glad that they have voted accordingly," Khan said.

BAPSA, which performed well this year, had finished third last year. Its presidential candidate Shabana Ali secured 935 votes. "We aim to have an Ambedkarite discourse and not just win seats. We will work towards strengthening our stand, even if we are not a part of the union," Ali said.